- Length: 26-1/4"
- Width: 2-3/4"

The Academy 400 scale Titanic, since it was designed in 1999, is the finest new model of the RMS Titanic in almost 30 years. The ship at 1/400 scale is slightly smaller than her Minicraft counterpart but makes up for the size difference with an amazing improvement in quality of molding and ease of assembly. If one remembers, Minicraft and Academy were he same company in years past. So the quality of accuracy philosophy is quite similar. When the two entities separated, Minicraft insisted on keeping the 350 scale Titanic and Academy set out to design a slightly smaller 400 scale ship with many new improvements.

The biggest improvement over the Minicraft is in the quality of the molding process. Academy has produced a model that does not have the considerable molding/mismolding problems that the Minicraft has. In fact, the Academy has none of the familiar flash, pit holes and mold marks that are familiar with her older sister. The molding process is a work of art where even the decks and staterooms are identified on the part itself. The pronounced decking, although a little out of scale is an improvement in that it actually has grain in the planking. The Forecastle deck has many more physical details than any other Titanic Model including accurate center anchor well, machinery to the chain mechanism as well as an accurate no 1 hatch. The funnels actually have ladder systems and piping that actually goes together with an amazing simplicity. There are some small accuracy problems with the window count (which model doesn't have that problem?) and location, however they are well pronounced and crisply detailed.

The hull has similar problems than her larger sister, but is cleanly detailed. A big plus for this model is that the decks actually fit without major work and adjustment as in other models of this ship. And the model comes with an excellent and easy to understand set of instructions. They even figured out an easy way to explain how to rig the funnels. Another major plus for the model is that quality of the plastic vs. the Minicraft. The Academy has a mast that is very difficult to snap and has a good amount of flexability, again, unlike the very fragile Minicraft masts that seemingly break when you breath on them. (overstatement)

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the two major drawbacks to the Academy 400. They are the poor design of the well decks and the shortage of two of the collapsable lifeboats. How Academy could forget two lifeboats is amazing indeed. They are easy to replace and add, but it is a major gaff on the part of Academy.

An amazing variety of Photoetch parts for this model are currently available from Tom's Modelworks. The same details that are available for the 350 scale model are also available for the 400 scale Academy.

In this reviewer's opinion, The Academy 400 Scale model comes in as a viable alternative for the serious Titanic modeler. Affordablility, great molding, accuracy that rivals the Minicraft and surprising ease of construction makes this an excellent choice. -Jerry Davidson

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